A Musical Muggle Meets Magic
by Drollittle
Summary: A Schubert Impromptu is interrupted by impolite intruders when the littlest Malfoy decides he wants piano lessons.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: JK Rowling is great, and she doesn't write songfics. **This is not a songfic.** But, it does refer to some good songs.

* * *

Schubert's Impromptu Op. 90 No. 4 in A-flat major wouldn't just play itself. It seemed like it did, though, when Aurelia Balogh was sitting in front of the keys.

She played it in the morning while her grey-brown hair was still damp from the shower and her laundry turned in the machines. It was her favorite piece this month; she enjoyed its fascinating and indecisive mixture of light and dark, playful and sophisticated. She let the music run under her fingers as she gazed out her front window at the day beginning. Cars rolled down the steep drive from the neighborhood toward the city. Power lines cris-crossed through the trees, and birds sat indiscriminately atop lines and branches as they, too, started the morning with song.

The sky was overcast; it wasn't unpleasant, but a gentle grey that gave the world a far-off look. The weather was always beautiful if you found the right kind of song to match with it. Aurelia thought about the lessons she would be teaching that afternoon. One student, Liz Cheever, had performed and placed in the regional competition last week. She would need to choose a set of solos to take to nationals, which would be a tricky choice, but trickier still—Liz would need Aurelia to give her just the right balance of praise and push to keep practicing hard. The longer she taught, the more Aurelia realized that piano teaching was just as much about dealing with the minds and motivations of young people as it was about the piano. As Aurelia considered her day's teaching, she only gave corners of her attention to the scene she was watching outside and the rapid descending arpeggios she was playing.

Aurelia played a wrong chord. A purple sports car had zipped past, and there were two people standing on the pavement that had not been there before; a blonde man in a long black coat, and a little son that matched in everything but his expression. While the man was scowling, the boy was smirking like he had just gotten away with stealing candy. They stood on the previously empty sidewalk.

Well, they must just have stepped out from a house while Aurelia was lost in musing. She started playing again from the start of the second repeat.

The song was like…a sparrow fluttering through a moonlit forest…or a child running downstairs on Halloween night…or crystal chandeliers in a dusty deserted palace. Aurelia listened to the notes roll down and she landed on the two final chords with satisfaction.

"You see, that is the kind of music I want to play!" said a small but forceful voice behind her. Aurelia whipped around to see the two from the pavement standing in the doorway of her music room.

"Excuse me, did you knock?"

The man looked slowly from Aurelia's bookcases to the hanging ceiling lamp, to the recording equipment, the grand piano, and finally to her. He sniffed.

"You're Madame Balogh…the best piano teacher in the county?"

Aurelia gave an uneasy laugh; no one had ever called her Madame, and though she knew she was the best in the county and one of at least the top ten piano teachers in all of Britain, she tried to avoid saying so herself.

"I am Aurelia Balogh, yes." She answered.

The boy spoke out, "And are you the best? I want the best."

"I suppose, in this county, yes I am."

"Fine then. My son wants to play the piano." Said the father. There was something disturbing about the man, and Aurelia certainly didn't like his manners, but she noticed a conscious elegance to the way he tapped his fingers on the silver buttons of his coat. His fingers were long, and moved rhythmically. Perfect piano hands.

"Are you a musician yourself?" She asked.

"A m_usic_ian? No." He said, as if the idea was funny, and Aurelia couldn't help but be offended. She could see that friendly conversation was pointless with a person like him, so she jumped to business.

"For a student his age, I teach weekly lessons for £35 a half-hour."

Aurelia expected him to disagree with such a high price, in fact she half hoped it might get rid of them, but he pulled a brick-sized stack of cash out of an inside coat pocket and stepped forward to hand it to her, saying "This should do for a few weeks". It looked like real money, and would do, certainly, for a few years. What business would any decent person have carrying that much cash? She decided not to think about it.

The man addressed the boy. "I'll be back in an hour or so, Scorpius. Remember, not a word about this to your grandfather."

"I know," the boy said, rolling his eyes, while his father turned to leave.

"Wait," Aurelia stammered, "I prefer parents to stay and listen for—" but he strode down the hall and out the front door.

Aurelia took a few deep breaths.

She looked at the young boy, who was seating himself on the piano bench. "Well then, so, is your real name Scorpius?"

He glared. "Yes! Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy."

"Very well, I wondered whether it was a nickname. Scorpius, before you play—wait—put your hands in your lap while we—ok, I'm putting the cover down for now."

He glared at her again. This lesson may have started off strangely, but Aurelia was determined to be calmly in control. The first lesson was the most important; be strict in the first lesson, and you could lighten up later; be light in the first lesson, and you would forever be struggling for discipline.

"I always start by asking a few questions. How old are you?"

"Eight."

"Do you have a piano at home to practice on?"

"Yes."

"Your father said he isn't a musician. Is anyone else in your family?"

"Not really. Mum sings sometimes..."

"Well, perhaps she could come to your lessons in the future and help you practice. For students your age I very much prefer having a parent come."

"Maybe…but she is busy a lot. I'm good at doing things by myself."

Scorpius' fingers kept moving, and he lifted them up to run along the edge of the cover. Aurelia decided to let him play just a little, then go back to talking.

"We'll see about having your mother come. Now, I am going to open the lid, but please don't play until I tell you to. Agreed?"

"OK."

Aurelia explained the pattern of white and black keys, and the letter names of each note. Scorpius sniggered.

"You only go to letter G? Wow, you really are stupider than us."

"First, stupid is not a polite thing to call anyone. Second, we only go to letter G in music because the next note is an exact octave up from the first. Listen, these are all A: she played all eight A's on the keyboard from lowest to highest. Can you hear that they are the same note?

"Yes! So that means, these are all B's—" He reached for the lowest B, but Aurelia snapped the cover shut.

"You agreed not to play until I said so."

"Fine!"

"The distance between one A and the next, or one C and the next, is called an octave—"

"—because there are eight white keys. Like an octagon or an octopus."

In spite of his poor manners, Aurelia found that Scorpius was fairly clever, and fascinated by the piano. He naturally sat up straight on the bench with nearly perfect posture. It looked like his hands would be long-fingered and graceful like his father's.

She got out a block seat to raise him to the level where his arms could be square with the keyboard, and a box for his feet. "Go ahead and put your right thumb on middle C," she instructed, "and line up your other fingers, one on each white key. Keep your wrist up, like you are…yes, and your fingers curved just like you have them. You have very nice posture, did you already learn this?"

"I'm just doing what the mug—people in the shop do." Said Scorpius, and began playing all 5 of the notes his fingers were on at once.

"Wait, please. I want you to play them one by one. Watch me first: 1-2-3-4-5."

Scorpius played 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1, in a steady rhythm, which was impressive enough for a beginner, but he also swung his elbow out and back gracefully and even gave the phrase a bit of a crescendo and decrescendo. Aurelia smiled. Maybe, just maybe, he would be worth the trouble.

Caesura

(To be continued)


	2. Chapter 2

Scorpius Malfoy was an annoying, self-important little specimen, but he played the piano more instinctively than any eight-year-old beginner Aurelia Balogh had taught. She reasoned that several of history's greatest musicians had eccentric and even unpleasant personalities.

"You say you saw people playing the piano in a shop?" She asked him.

"Yes, a big music shop in Paris. I liked staying and listening to them play better than going to Mum's fashion shows, and then I decided I wanted to play, so I asked Father to buy me a piano. He didn't want to, so he got me a big old record player instead…I don't know if you listen to records…I don't think most people do..."

"No, I don't."

He rambled on, "My Mum just listens to the radio. Father likes it quiet, and so do Grandmother and Grandfather, but Mum says the piano might sound nice if I can play it better. I made Father buy me a real piano, like this one, because the record player wasn't fun anymore—"

"A piano like this one? A grand?" Aurelia asked, incredulous.

"Yes, and it says Steinway squiggly Sons on the front like this, except in silver not gold."

Aurelia had saved for years for her piano, and that blonde man had spontaneously bought one for his eight-year-old? She felt horrified and a bit jealous.

"We put it up in one of my rooms on the top floor; Grandfather never comes up there because his knees are getting bad."

"What does your grandfather have against the piano?"

"It's not the piano itself...he just wouldn't like me taking lessons from...um..."

Oh, Aurelia understood. They saw something wrong with _her_. Was it her Hungarian ancestry? Or being a woman? "Is your grandfather prejudiced against something?" She bluntly asked.

"Yeah...Mum says we just have to humor him. Sometimes we lie to him...I'm not really supposed to talk about it. But he won't know that I'm taking lessons. Anyway, I _have_ to take lessons, because I've tried for weeks and I can't figure out how to play any really great music by myself."

Aurelia started to feel sorry for this boy. At least it sounded like his mother was half decent. His story was so extravagant Aurelia forgot that she ought to interrupt him to make better use of the lesson time. Instead she listened on.

"Father bought me some music written on parchment but I don't know how to read it. He was really annoying about letting me take lessons, I had to get mad a lot, but he gave in." Scorpius smiled as if he was to be congratulated, then put his fingers on the keys again and started plunking notes.

"That's...well, I'm glad you are so interested in playing the piano. Stop playing please. Thank you. It is very enjoyable, but it will take a lot of dedicated practice. Will you practice every day?"

"Yes, I love it!"

"Yes, that's good, but I should warn you that the magic wears off."

Scorpius almost jumped off the seat. His eyes wide, he shouted, "It _is_ magic! I told Father and Mother it had to be magic; there was no way people could remember all those notes and play them so fast...but my piano is new, it won't wear off for a long time, will it?"

Aurelia stared at him. Wasn't eight too old to still believe in magic? Apparently not for weird, obscenely rich children. "No, I don't mean that the piano is really magic. In fact that is the opposite of what I mean. The only way you can learn is by consistent, hard work and it won't always seem exciting and fun. It is fun and it is worth it, but I want you to know that it will take time and a lot of practice. Can you do that?"

Scorpius looked disappointed, but he nodded. "Yeah, I will practice every day."

"Very good. Now let's get out an exercise book and start learning."

After half an hour, Scorpius had some exercises to practice, and his attention span was spent. His father had said that he would pick Scorpius up in an uncertain 'hour or so,' so Aurelia suggested that he sit on a chair and listen to CDs while he waited. She needed to change her laundry.

"Ok!" Said Scorpius as he ran to the shelf of CDs. "I'm thirsty, I'd like a cup of milk now."

"Say please."

With a glare, he said "please," and turned to pick out a CD, but when she returned he had not put one in the player.

"This is so cute! It's like a shiny little record. Where do I put it?"

"Open this lid here. Here is your milk."

"I don't want a red cup, I want a green cup."

"Next time I'll have you get it for yourself. Here it is in a red cup."

"Is this one good? Masterpieces of Antonin Dolohov…no, D-vor-ack?"

"Dvorak, yes, that is one of my favorites. It's not piano music, it's symphonic."

"Oh, which ones are piano music?"

"These, here, Gottschalk is always fun. Now I need to go do laundry."

"Make it play for me, I don't know how."

"Please?"

"Ugh. Please!"

Aurelia started the music and left the room.

Twenty minutes later she checked on Scorpius. He was sitting under the piano with his eyes closed, tapping his fingers on his knees in time to the music.

"You like this, hmm?"

"Yes! It sounds like a parade of pegasuses...pegasi...or are they just pegasus?"

"I don't know the plural of pegasus, but the song is called 'Grande Tarantelle'."

"And what was the name of the one before this? I liked that one the best; it sounded like a big lot of dancing house elves."

"House elves? Very imaginative...the song was called 'The Banjo', though I have never heard anything as good as that song played on a real banjo."

"What's a banjo?"

"A string instrument...listen, I am going to water the plants on my back porch, so stay here. Hopefully your father will be here soon."

"May I have this record?"

"Have it? No, sorry, it's mine."

"But I like it. May I borrow it?"

"No, I'm afraid I stopped lending things to students a long time ago, too many things got lost."

Scorpius pouted. "I need to listen to these songs again."

"Well, I'm sure your parents can afford to get you a recording of them. If not, you can look them all up on YouTube anyway these days."

"What is you tube?"

"Goodness! I thought I was old-fashioned! Do you have internet on a computer at home?"

"No..." Scorpius said, frustrated.

Aurelia sighed. "Well, ask your parents to buy you an album of Louis Moreau Gottschalk."

Scorpius screwed up his face and looked ready to cry. "They _won't_! Father said he _won't_ buy any more music stuff. It's so stupid!"

"Actually that sounds entirely sensible. You will just have to do without it. You can't have everything you want all at once you know."

Scorpius took a deep breath and held it, puffing out his cheeks and turning red.

The power blinked and went out: lights, stereo, and all.

"There. Now may I have the little record?" He demanded, as if the power outage had something to do with it.

"No, and if you are going to keep being upset I will have you wait out on the pavement."

Scorpius strode over to the stereo, and before Aurelia could stop him, took out the CD and snapped it in quarters. He looked up at her defiantly, and she just stared at him. What was the 'calm, in control teacher' supposed to say to that?

"Outside. Go outside. Your father will be here soon."

She watched him pocket the pieces of CD as he walked down the hallway and out the door. He sat down on the doorstep. Aurelia kept an eye on him as she began sweeping the hall. Bouncy strains of 'The Banjo' ran in her head, mocking her frustration.

Then she saw the boy's father walking up toward the house. She took his stack of money and went to have a word with him.

"Mr. Malfoy, is it?"

"Yes it is, Madame. Scorpius, stand up, let's go. We will come back this time next week."

"Actually, Mr. Malfoy, I won't be teaching Scorpius, so here is your money back."

The boy looked aghast.

"Is it not a good time of day?" Mr. Malfoy asked.

"Well, afternoons would be preferable, but the truth is that I require a higher level of self-control and courtesy. Your son broke a CD of mine, on purpose, and I don't like that sort of behavior. It's a shame, since he does seem to have a talent for music, but I would suggest trying again in a year or two."

"He broke something of yours?" Mr. Malfoy frowned at his son, who took the pieces of CD out of his pocket.

"A CD, yes."

"I'm very sorry. We will have it repaired for you, but I hope you will let him—"

Aurelia interrupted him with a humorless laugh. "Who do you know that repairs shattered CDs? Really, I am starting to wonder..."

The man was reaching into a pocket. Aurelia felt suddenly nervous, and took a step back from the door. Then everything went fuzzy. She blinked.

"Sorry, Mr. Malfoy, you said this time next week?"

"Yes, and here is your CD." He handed it back to her. She wondered if there had been a problem with it.

"Thank you."

"And thank _you_. Come, Scorpius."

"Have a good week! Practice!"

Scorpius smiled back at Aurelia as she watched him walk away—a delightful, normal boy from a delightful, normal family. She looked forward very much to teaching him.

**Notes:**

**That was fun to write! Haha, in terms of my own enjoyment I think it has been my favorite short fic to write so far. Maybe because I listened to a lot of music while writing...**

**I don't play the piano much myself but I have taught some violin lessons.**

**Scorpius gets nicer as he gets older, partly from Aurelia's influence. (You can read more about him in the story Malfoys, Weasleys, and Underestimated Magic.)**


End file.
